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The Seattle Times originated as the Seattle Press-Times, a four-page newspaper founded in 1891 with a daily circulation of 3,500, which Maine teacher and attorney Alden J. Blethen bought in 1896.[3][4] Renamed the Seattle Daily Times, it doubled its circulation within half a year. By 1915, circulation stood at 70,000.

The Times is one of the few remaining major city dailies in the United States independently operated and owned by a local family (the Blethens). The Seattle Times Company, while owning and operating the Times, also owns three other papers in Washington. The McClatchy Company owns 49.5 percent of voting common stock in the Seattle Times Company, formerly held by Knight Ridder.

The Times reporting has received nine Pulitzer Prizes.[3] It has an international reputation for its investigative journalism, in particular.[5] In April 2012, investigative reporters Michael Berens and Ken Armstrong won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for a series documenting more than 2,000 deaths caused by the state of Washington's use of methadone as a recommended painkiller in state-supported care.[6] In April 2010, the Times staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting "for its comprehensive coverage, in print and online, of the shooting deaths of four police officers in a coffee house and the 40-hour manhunt for the suspect."[7] The city was on edge during the manhunt, and The Seattle Times had around-the-clock staff monitoring the search and investigating the killer's history in the criminal justice system.

In February 2002, the Seattle Times ran a subheadline 'American outshines Kwan, Slutskaya in skating surprise' after Sarah Hughes won the gold medal at the 2002 Olympics. Many Asian Americans felt insulted by the Times actions even after the newspaper apologized, because Michelle Kwan is also American.[8]

On October 17, 2012, the publishers of the Seattle Times launched advertising campaigns in support of Republicangubernatorial candidateRob McKenna and a state referendum to legalize same-sex marriage. The newspaper's management said the ads were aimed at "demonstrating how effective advertising with The Times can be."[9] The advertisements in favor of McKenna represent an $80,000 independent expenditure, making the newspaper the third largest contributor to his campaign.[10] More than 100 staffers signed a letter of protest sent to Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen, calling it an "unprecedented act".[11]

"Quarters of the news editor", one a group of four photos in the brochureSeattle and the Orient (1900) collectively captioned "The Seattle Daily Times—Editorial Department"

From 1983 to 2009, the Times and Seattle's other major paper, the Hearst-owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer, were run under a "Joint Operating Agreement" (JOA) whereby advertising, production, marketing, and circulation were controlled by the Times for both papers.[3] The two papers maintained their own identities with separate news and editorial departments.

The Times announced its intention to cancel the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) in 2003, citing a clause in the JOA contract that three consecutive years of losses allowed it to pull out of the agreement.[12] Hearst sued, arguing that a force majeure clause prevented the Times from claiming losses as reason to end the JOA when they result from extraordinary events (in this case, a seven-week strike by members of the Newspaper Guild). While a district judge ruled in Hearst's favor, the Times won on appeal, including a unanimous decision from the Washington State Supreme Court on June 30, 2005.[13] Hearst continued to argue that the Times fabricated its loss in 2002. The two papers announced an end to their dispute on April 16, 2007.[14]

This arrangement JOA was terminated when the Post-Intelligencer ceased publication; its final printed edition was March 17, 2009.

The Seattle Times was an afternoon paper for 104 years until March 6, 2000.[15] It switched to morning delivery to avoid the fate of other afternoon newspapers that had shut down.[16] This placed the Times in direct competition with its JOA partner, the morning Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Nine years later, the P-I became an online-only publication.

For decades, the broadsheet page width of the Times was 131⁄2 inches (34 cm), printed from a 54-inch web, the four-page width of a roll of newsprint. Following changing industry standards, the width of the page was reduced in 2005 by 1 inch (2.5 cm), to 121⁄2 inches (32 cm), now a 50-inch web standard. In February 2009, the web size was further reduced to 46 inches, which narrowed the page by another inch to 111⁄2 inches (29 cm) in width.[17]